Carcinoid tumors of the appendix-our experience in Garhwal region of Uttarakhand

Objective: To calculate the incidence of incidently discovered carcinoids among all appendisectomy cases and compare the experience with the recent literature on the subject.

Material and methods: The medical records of all the patients who underwent consecutive appendectomies and were referred to pathology department for biopsy in Veer Chandra Garhwali institute of medical sciences, Srinagar were retrospectively analyzed. Detailed medical history was noted age, gender, indication for surgery, surgical procedure, tumor localization in the appendix, diameter of the lesion after fixation with formaldehyde, concomitant appendicitis, the need for extended surgery and follow up were reviewed in detail

Result: Out of the total 1152 patients, 4 (0.4%) were found to histological evidence of carcinoid tumor of the appendix. There were 3 female and 1 male patients with a mean age of 29.2 years (range: 6-82 years). Acute appendicitis was the clinical presentation for all patients. Open appendectomy was performed in all four patients. Histologically, all tumors were located at the tip of the appendix with a mean diameter of 0.6cm (range: 0.3-1.0 cm).All** patients were alive and disease-free during a mean follow-up of seven years (range: 4-7 yrs)

Conclusion: Carcinoid tumors of the appendix are extremely rare and invariably remain asymptomatic and are mostly discovered incidently for appendicectomy done for other reasons.